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National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration's (NOAA) preliminary forecast released in mid-December
forecast 2006 as the third warmest year on record. See December 16 post However, NOAA reported today that last year was the warmest in the
contiguous United States since record keeping began 112 years ago in 1895. The record was set in part because of extremely warm December weather: no state was colder than average and
five states had record warm weather -- Minnesota, New
York, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire. The average
temperature was about 55 degrees
Fahrenheit, or 2.2 degrees above the average
temperature recorded from 1901 to the end of 2000. NOAA attributed the record warmth to El Nino and overall global warming, but said "It is unclear how much of the recent anomalous warmth was due to
greenhouse-gas-induced warming and how much was due to the El
Nino-related circulation pattern." NOAA preliminary annual report